Traitor Beasts
by Sanrii
Summary: A dangerous group of radicals are responsible for the kidnapping of a famous scientist, and the deaths of hundreds, including King Cryos of Zenith. In order to combat the new menace, the Winx Club reawaken ancient technology; a group of robots, known as the Traitor Beasts. AU, takes place after the first movie. ON HAITUS UNTIL DECEMBER 2013.
1. Chapter 1: Kantakka Reawakens

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Winx Club or any of its Spin-offs.

This is a story that I'm not entirely sure why I began. The setting is an AU, happening after the events of the first movie.

* * *

**Chapter One: Kantakka Reawakens**

"I can't be late!" Tecna thought aloud, as she found herself barrelling through the skies above the zigzagging streets of a foreign world. The realm was called Apex. Thousands of years prior, a great schism had occurred on planet Zenith. Those who stayed on Zenith had decided to reject emotion, and embrace logic above all. Those who left had become the people of Apex, who had valued the link between emotion and logic. Biologically, the people of Apex and Zenith had been remarkably similar, given their common ancestry, but over time, their ideals had driven them completely apart.

Just as the people were, the physical planet itself had been similar, yet incredibly different to Zenith. While the buildings were just as tall, and there were just as many automatons as on Tecna's home realm; Zenith was a snow covered planet, whilst Apex had been a predominantly sand and rock covered planet. Despite that, the city Tecna was in was plentiful with water, and other pleasantries that would normally be absent on a desert planet.

Tecna's destination had been a large dome building in the distance, made of a chrome-like metal. Being the guardian fairy of a technological superpower, she had been invited to a special press conference, along with King Cryos. An Apex scientist had apparently reached a massive breakthrough in the field of robotics, one that could change the very nature of the way people would think about life itself. At least, that had been what the letter Tecna received had said about the nature of the event.

The chrome building was now within spitting distance, and Tecna had descended into a dive down to the front entrance. There were several armoured security guards standing watch outside of the building, along with a young woman carrying a clipboard.

"Please wait!" Tecna yelled, as she touched down on the ground. The guards and the woman all looked at her with slight caution. "I'm Tecna of Zenith, and I'm here for the conference." She pointed at the woman's clipboard. "I should be on the list."

"Sorry miss," the woman said, her voice thick with false sympathy, "but, I'm afraid we can't let anyone in after the conference has started."

"But I can't miss this!" Tecna protested. "It's too important!"

"Then you should have been on time," the woman replied callously.

"Isn't there anyway you can let me in?" Tecna asked. She cursed under her breath. She loved her friends, but at the same time, if it wasn't for them, she would have been on time.

The woman rolled her eyes, and let out a quiet sigh of exasperation. "Look, I can't let you inside for security reasons." The woman let out another sigh, this one with more empathy than the last. "Maybe, you'll be able to meet with a few of the other ambassadors, after they leave the conference."

Tecna nodded, still feeling disappointed over her lack of access. "I'll try that then." She walked over to the wall next to the entrance, and leaned on it. "But, I'm not moving until they finish." The security guards shuffled slightly, and glared over at her, before looking back to the woman. She raised her hand up, and shook her head. The guards fell back to ease.

* * *

The conference hall had been a surprisingly comfortable locale, filled with hundreds of chairs, made of a soft black material, which could become softer, or firmer, based on a command from a button on the armrest. Several ambassadors had gathered to witness the announcement, from all sorts of realms all over the magical dimension, though most of the realms involved had been technological superpowers. Special seats were available at the front of the hall, right near the speaker's platform, specifically for the political parties of Apex. The seats were even colour coded, to match with the political alignment. There had been four different coloured chairs; orange, green, purple and grey. Not all of the chairs had been filled, but the grey chairs had been nearly completely empty, with only two attendees. Strangely, the political party which had been designated to sit in the area was the Revolutionary Machine Party. However, even the two that did show up did their best to keep their faces hidden, as if they had been embarrassed to attend the event.

King Cryos looked around the Zenith section in slight confusion. All but one of his company had made it to the event. The missing person, was Tecna, the guardian fairy. The king grumbled slightly, somewhat disappointed that the girl hadn't come to the event. No matter her excuse, it was a rather unprofessional move in the king's eyes, that showed a lack of proper respect. Cryos tried to distance his mind from Tecna's absence, and focused on the platform at the front of the room, where a young man with long brown hair, wearing a dark green suit walked up to the platform. The lights dimmed slightly, as the screen behind him lit up.

"Can you all hear me?" the young man asked. The members of the audience all nodded. For each of them, it had sounded as if the man had been simply engaging them in a one-on-one conversation in a quiet room, without even any voice amplification. Looking at the sides of the halls, there had been no speakers on the walls. The room was designed for efficient sound travel, but that still couldn't have been enough for his voice to be so clear. "It's a new sound travelling technology, called the sound thrower. We're just trying it out for a little test run."

The audience let out a collective "Ahh."

"But that's not why you've all been asked to attend today, now is it?" The man continued. "But, how rude of me! I've not introduced myself yet. I am Professor Dalis'Eti." Even King Cryos had difficulty containing the surprise he had felt. The man speaking to them looked no older than sixteen years of age. He was the genius professor? "What you've actually been called for, was to see this." The young professor gestured to the large screen behind him, which began to display images of a new computer chip, along side an image of a brain, a heart and what had appeared to be strands of DNA. "What do these three have in common?" The professor asked rhetorically. "Until now, the answer has been nothing. Often, we might try to put them together, and we can have some marginal success. We've created artificial intelligence, which can learn and think... albeit constrained by the limits of logic and reasoning. What I present to you today, is the second technological singularity. A machine that can learn, think and most importantly... feel."

One of the two figures sitting in the Revolutionary Machine Party designation shuffled slightly, and whispered into the ear of the other figure, who nodded slowly.

"The DNA strand is to represent a truly unique machine in every way," Professor Dalis'Eti continued. He was barely able stop himself from smiling from ear to ear. "No matter what, no two machines will ever be the same, in the same way that no two living creatures are perfectly alike. Most importantly, we are able to achieve this, without involving biological matter in any way whatsoever. These machines will go beyond what any artificial intelligence in the past was ever capable of. There will be no limit. No hindrance to what these robotics will accomplish. Feelings will not be programmed functions, not a glorified calculator, where you input a statement, and receive a predetermined answer. Rather, they will be learned, and truly experienced, the same way you or I feel emotion. And most impressively... this has all been accomplished without any magic whatsoever." The entire crowd erupted in excitement at this last statement, with the exception of the Zenith visitors, and the Revolutionary Machine Party. King Cryos had been unable to determine the importance of a construct feeling emotion. If logical perfection was a lack of emotion, what good was moving in the opposite direction? The shorter of the two Revolutionary Machine Party members quickly reached into his pocket, and pulled something on to his mouth. The taller of the two stood up, and approached the professor, fighting his way through the mob of people who had gathered around the young man.

The young professor looked upon the man from the Machine Party's face with slight unrest. It had appeared to be very much within the uncanny valley – that point where machines had been slightly shy of human appearance, and as a result were quite repulsive – with almost rubbery skin. Around his eyes, the rubber skin didn't quite cover what lay underneath, where a metallic skeleton could be seen around the eye sockets. His eyes were strange glass-like objects, with watery crystals in the centres acting as his irises.

"Young sir, please put this on," the man said, with a heavily synthesized voice. He held out a small black suction-cup shaped object, with a flexible loop of string attached. Whatever the object was, it was intended to go on the professor's mouth.

"Who are you?" The professor asked. He looked at the mask sceptically.

"You may call me Monster," the man replied. He practically tackled the professor, and shoved the mask on his face, as a cloudy white gas began to fill the room. Before the people inside could even scream, they had begun to drop to the floor. The professor's eyes widened in horror as he watched the hundreds of guests fell over and died. A few had managed to bang on the exit vainly before dying as well.

"What's going on in there?!" Tecna cried. The heavy banging at the door came in a single quick burst before being completely silenced.

"The door's locked!" one of the guards exclaimed. They stepped away from the door, before melting it with a single shot from one of their lasers. Tecna was immediately sickened when she saw the dead bodies behind the door, slumped over in a large pile. The guards quickly ran into the room, before they all began to fall over and die as well. Tecna hesitated slightly, before she ran in as well, hoping that her backup respirator would save her.

"General Masiina," Monster said coolly, "all of the witnesses are dead." The shorter figure with the mask nodded tersely, before removing the hat he had been wearing, and flipping his collar down, revealing long blonde hair, and a very feminine face.

"You're a woman?" The professor asked, genuine surprise in his voice. "How could you do such a thing?!"

"If people get in the way of progress, then they die," the general responded. She had a rather luscious voice, that betrayed her heartless words. She turned and saw Tecna, who had been staring at them. "Monster. You missed one."

Monster turned and glared at Tecna, who had since transformed into her Enchantix fairy form. Her pink hair had grown slightly down her back, two three-pronged wings formed on her back. Her chest and waist were protected by a relatively small amount of fabric. Wire-like coils wrapped around her lower legs and feet into sandals. "Look at that outfit," Monster said, slight humour in his voice. "Is she some kind of tart?" Tecna merely gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. He was trying to trick her into taking more breathes than was necessary.

"Don't underestimate her," General Masiina said. "She's been able to withstand the gas that killed everyone else in a single breath – and, she's an Enchantix fairy." Massina leaned in closer to Monster, to the point where the two were looking at each other eye to eye. "We don't have time for this."

Tecna was knocked down when the metal comprising the roof let out a groan of anguish as it was torn apart. She clutched at her ears to try and stop the sound. When the sound had passed, she looked up, and saw a large bird-shaped robot floating above the roof. General Masiina and Monster had already been on board, along with the captive Professor Dalis'Eti. The professor had been banging at the glass of the exit, and Tecna could read his lips well enough to tell that he had been crying out for help. Tecna threw a spell at the ship, only for it to bounce harmlessly off of the reflective surface. Thinking quickly, Tecna shot another spell, to conceal a small tracking device she threw onto the hull. General Masiina took one last look at Tecna, and waved mockingly, before the bird-bot zoomed off into the distance.

The pink-haired fairy watched helplessly as the robot flew off, likely carrying its passengers to the safety of a base. She quickly returned her mind to the present, as she began to run through the room, looking around, hoping that she wouldn't find what she feared she would find. However, those fears were realized, when she found the body of King Cryos, cold and motionless on the ground. Coming from his mouth was a mixture of foam and blood. She cupped her hands over her face and let out a ragged sigh. The hole in the ceiling had allowed for the excess of gas to escape, cleaning the room slightly. It was not long before a crew of emergency workers wearing HazMat suits ran into the building, to offer what little aid they could. Tecna pulled out her palmtop, and explained to them what had happened, and who she was. Being a member of the Winx Club had helped her explanation greatly. She had left the care for the dead to the aid workers, before she flew up through the hole in the chrome ceiling, and flew off into the distance. On her palmtop, she could see that the robot had stopped moving, though it had been rather deep in the Apex desert. Determined to see justice wrought, she quickly flew off into the desert, after the killers. She contemplated calling the other members of the Winx, but ultimately decided against it, given the limited window of opportunity she had. If she had called, there was a chance that those responsible would get away with their crimes. Not to mention, if they had brought Professor's Dalis'Eti with them, it would mean that they likely had a plan involving his research. While Tecna hadn't known the full details, she had heard the hype surrounding it, and if people like Monster and Masiina were interested, and willing to kill, it could have disastrous impacts.

* * *

Tecna was fast, but she wasn't able to keep up with a machine with beyond mach capabilities. The sandstorm in the desert wasn't helping at all. She could barely keep her eyes open more than a squint, at risk of exposing herself to the danger of the element. In the distance, she could make out the outline of a group of colours. It was no mirage. All sorts of scrap metal, all gathered in one conspicuous location. Evidently, the Revolutionary Machine Party had been relying on the sandstorm to keep them hidden. _It could even be possible that they created the sandstorm themselves_, Tecna thought. Near the pile of scrap, there was a bright white wall. Behind that wall, a large military complex. There were large guard towers at every corner of the gate, and the base itself had been comprised of small and tall buildings alike. It was as if it were a small city in the middle of the desert.

Tecna ground her teeth behind her tightly shut lips. She quickly flew above the gate, only to be stopped by a force field even her palmtop couldn't detect. Upon impact, she felt as if countless volts of energy had just shot through her body. She fell limply down into the scrap pile below. She let out a pained scream as her leg was wedged into the thin gap between two serrated pieces of metal. She carefully pulled her bleeding leg out of the gap. Looking down on the wound, she could see that the cuts were not only deep, but numerous. A crippling injury. The smells of coppery blood, rusting metal, burnt hair and cooking flesh filled her nostrils. She was filled with sudden regret over the impulsive nature of her previous actions. _Maybe emotions do only get in the way. _Her leg wasn't going to stop bleeding anytime soon. Her only hope was to make her way back to the city, and seek hospitalization.

"Well, well... what are you doing here?" Tecna's heart sank as she heard the familiar synthesized voice. It was Monster. She slowly turned her head to face him. The rubbery skin was no longer covering his entire face, but was now only over his lower jaw. It was apparent that that was the only part of his face where his flesh had been organic. The rest of his face was a smooth metallic skeleton. His false eyes had been removed, and were now just two blue crystals within empty sockets. "Pretty little fairies shouldn't be all the way out here." He reached out and grasped Tecna's lower jaw with his left hand. His hand was warm, and made of real skin and bone. He violently pulled his hand away, and replaced it with his right hand, which had been cold metal. He tightened his grip, threatening to crush Tecna's jawbone. Before she cried out in pain, he pulled his hand away, and knocked her over. "Angel! Come to me!" Monster yelled. Tecna glanced up at him, and saw that he was getting onto a metallic animal mount of sorts. It appeared to be a gryphon made of reflective black metal. It was only as large as the sizes that the animal had actually been, when found on various realms. Bigger than a person, though not by much.

"Shall we dispose of her, Monster?" It had seemed as if the robot gryphon had spoken, however, its voice was less robotic than Monster's own had been. In fact, it wasn't robotic at all. It had sounded like a normal, young woman's voice.

"We shall, Angel," Monster replied. He gently stroked the back of Angel's head. The robot cooed happily as it took flight above Tecna.

Tecna's breaths had become quick and short, perfectly in rhythm with the beating of her organic heart. Her mouth had become completely dry, and her lips were cracked. She couldn't help but feel completely helpless. _Is this how it ends? _She wondered. _Is this it? _Angel quickly swooped down, and slammed into Tecna with her hard, metal wing. Tecna was knocked back from the impact, and landed back down on the pile of scrap metal, a few yards from where she had started. She looked around, and saw her head had landed just a few inches away from a sharp spike of metal jutting out of the ground. For a moment, she wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not. _Will Timmy ever know what happens to me? _Her mind couldn't help but wander, even though she thought she had been staring death in the eyes. Not wanting to waste her final moments, she managed to stand – despite her bleeding leg – and turned to face Monster and Angel.

"**Digital Blast!**" cried Tecna. She shot two streams of green energy towards the duo. The spells collided with the two, though they had appeared to have been completely unfazed by the attack. Tecna's eyes widened, and her arms fell down to her side. "That should have done something at least." Angel began to dive at her once more, this time aiming the sharp tips of her black wings at Tecna, like knives. "**Protective Energy Shield!**" A large green bubble appeared around Tecna, who crossed her arms in front of her chest, bracing for the impact. Angel's attack cut right through the barrier, and into Tecna's arms. The pink-haired fairy was once again knocked away, but this time with fresh bleeding wounds. When her body collided with the scrap once more, she had felt as if she had gone completely numb all over.

"Without a Konolento, you don't stand a chance," Monster mocked. "Angel, let's finish her off with at least some of her dignity intact." Angel nodded, and flew up into the air once more. Tecna's vision was beginning to blur into a black tunnel. Blood mixed with magic had dripped down through the scrap pile, all over. It had been painted red with her blood. She stared up into the sky, and saw that Angel and Monster had been floating within the path of the sun. A few rare tears began to fall from her eyes, and mixed with some of the blood that had been smeared on her face, before falling to the metal below. At the present, she didn't even know why she had cried.

_Am I scared? _She wondered. _For me? Or for someone else? _Her mind was slipping. She couldn't even attempt to move out of the way anymore. She had no strength left. She shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable end.

"What the hell?!" Monster yelled. Tecna felt herself being flung through the air once more, though it was not the result of a painful impact this time, but rather from the scrap metal she was upon being blown away. She opened her eyes slightly, and saw the outline of another metallic monster standing above her, features silhouetted because of the bright sun behind it. Immediately, she shut her eyes once again. "Kantakka?!"

"You will be safe with me," A deep male voice said. Tecna's eyes were barely able to open, as she felt herself being picked up by the jaw of the new animal. The beast quickly flung her onto his back. "If you cannot fight, then I cannot fight. If we can't fight, we should run." Tecna's neck was quickly jerked around, as the monster she was seated upon suddenly rushed off into the distance, easily surpassing mach speeds. She had felt suddenly awake once more. "Don't look now, but we're being followed." Ignoring the robot, Tecna turned her head around, and saw that Monster and Angel had been chasing them rather closely. "Can you fight in your state?!"

"Yes," Tecna replied. She had gained her second wind. Perhaps with the help of this robot, she would be able to fight back.

"So long as we fight together, we stand a chance," the beast said. He gradually began to slow his pace, until he managed to turn himself around. Now, Tecna and her beast had stared in a showdown with Monster and Angel.

"Traitor Kantakka seems to have returned to the world of the living," Angel said, with scorn in her voice.

"Weak minded Angel seems to be as blindly obedient as ever," Tecna's beast, Kantakka replied. "Always pleased to lick the boots of your master, aren't you?" Angel growled at Kantakka's comment. Monster attempted to calm her down by stroking the back of her head. For the first time since she had been thrown upon him, Tecna decided to take a good look at just what Kantakka was. He appeared to be a bull-like creature, with a unicorn's horn, and the wings of a falcon. His metal body had given him a predominantly golden colour.

"The legendary Konolento reawakens," Monster said. Even through his heavily altered voice, hints of fear could still be heard in his speech. "But how did this girl reawaken him I wonder?"

Tecna was beginning to feel completely dizzy. The blood-loss was definitely beginning to take its toll upon her. She struggled to keep her vision from doubling. She tried to focus her mind on stopping Monster, for the crimes he had committed. That would keep her going. "Let's win this Kantakka!" Tecna yelled. The bull-like creature looked up at her and nodded. Angel and Kantakka charged at each other ready to begin their bout.

* * *

**"Author's" Notes: **And so ends this first chapter! There's something appealing to me about putting characters named Monster and Angel together on the same team. On my Profile, I hinted at a story about where the Winx would have gone, if I was in charge of the series. This... is not that story. This is something much stranger, that hit me like a pile of bricks.

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a review with your thoughts, comments and criticisms! :D


	2. Chapter 2: Loyalty

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Winx Club.

Thanks to TecnaBelievix, SharpieMassacre, Akela Victoire and Goldentigere for your reviews!

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**Chapter Two: Loyalty**

Kantakka let out a low, rumbling growl, and a blown snort before trying to impale Angel on his unicorn horn. Tecna aided Kantakka in his effort by stunting Angel's movements with a green force field. Kantakka's horn dug into Angel's upper chest, and ripped out several wires, and sharp pieces of metal. Angel let out an anguished cry, as Monster tried to knock Tecna away with a blast of energy. Reacting quickly, Tecna moved the force field away from Angel's back, to the front, and deflected Monster's spell back at him.

Angel let out a roar, and began to spit blasts of energy out of her mouth. Working together, Tecna used her magic to block some of the attacks, while Kantakka quickly moved to the side, dodging the blows. Angel charged at Kantakka, and bit down on his leg. Kantakka let out a roar of his own, as Angel's mouth vised down on him, causing the metal casing on his leg to begin cracking.

"**Digital Blast!**" Tecna fired a large green ball of light at Angel's head at point-blank range. Angel's right eye to burst into hundreds of pieces. Her jaw was knocked loose. Monster took hold of Angel's head and yanked back on it, causing Angel to fly backwards, away from Tecna and Kantakka. Angel's remaining eye began to glow orange, and Monster appeared to slump over slightly. Angel opened her mouth, and shot a stream of orange lightning at Tecna and Kantakka, shocking the two of them. Tecna gripped tightly on to the back of Kantakka's neck, and narrowed her eyes, attempting to overcome the attack with a mind over matter principle. When the attack was over, Angel's eye stopped glowing, and Monster sat up straight once again. His metallic frame had hidden his true emotions from Tecna, but she could tell he was somewhat fearful, when she saw the trembling of his left arm – his human arm. Angel sounded as if she groaned slightly, and began to fall.

"They put everything they had into that last attack," Tecna commented. She had been panting heavily, exhausted from both her wounds, and from fighting on such unfamiliar terms.

"If we can separate the two of them, this fight is as good as won," Kantakka said. Tecna nodded in understanding. Kantakka flapped his wings, before diving down to the rapidly plummeting Angel and Monster. Kantakka's eyes began to rapidly flicker a vivid green. Tecna's own eyelids began to droop, as she began to feel even more drained than before; her skin rapidly paling. Green lightning wrapped around Kantakka's horn, as he drove it through Monster's chest, knocking him off Angel's back. With his hooves, Kantakka began to bash at Angel's head and back as he flew over her. He continued his flight, and turned around, before shooting the green lighting at Angel in a single beam of energy. The blast ripped through Angel's metallic panelling, causing sparks and shrapnel to fly through the air. When the lightning had left Kantakka's horn, his eyes returned to their normal light blue glow. Tecna felt some of her strength return to her, and she shook her head to shake off her dizziness.

"Organic," Kantakka began, "are you still capable of fighting?"

"Yeah," Tecna replied. "I'm a bit tired, but I can keep going."

"Good." Kantakka let out a growl, as if he were in pain. "I syphoned some of your power to apply that last attack. However, it was quite taxing on the both of us. You will need to deal with Monster alone."

"He's still alive then." Tecna looked down to the sand below, where Monster lay. She could see him reaching out towards Angel's broken body. Tecna hopped off of Kantakka's back, and floated down to the desert ground below, where Monster began to glare up at her. "I can't forgive you for what you've done. But, I'm not going to kill you." The shattered man threw a pathetic spell in her direction, which she managed to block almost effortlessly. "You will face justice, and, you will tell me how to get the professor to safety."

"It's too late for that now," Monster replied, his voice thick with static. "I'm not telling you anything." He lifted his metallic right hand, and shot his fingers out at Tecna from his knuckles, only connected by thin wires. She quickly sidestepped and grabbed hold of the wires. Tecna raised her free arm into the air, which began to glow with green energy. She swiftly chopped her hand through the wires. Monster growled as the remnants of the wires retracted into his hand. He pressed a few buttons on the back of his palm, and smirked at Tecna. "Creating digital backup... Deleting data... System shutting down." Monster's body slumped over, as the watery blue crystals in his eyes shattered, and spilled on to the sand he laid upon.

"Back-up systems activated. Reserve power in use." The voice belonged to Angel, who was still operational. Angel had managed to keep herself together, and quickly picked Monster up with her mouth. With a harsh wing flap, Angel managed to knock Tecna down to the ground. Sand kicked up into the fairy's eyes and mouth. Her mouth was barely moist enough to spit the coarse grains out. She could only rub her eyes, while Kantakka watched helplessly as the dying robot gryphon carried her master to the safety of the base in the distance.

"We can't let them get away," Tecna tried to crawl after the fleeing robot, before her chin fell to the sand. She reached vainly for Angel's rapidly vanishing figure in the distance.

"You will not survive without medical aid, organic," Kantakka said. Tecna turned over and looked down upon herself. She was still bleeding from her leg, and arms. The sand certainly wasn't helping things. Kantakka slowly flew over to Tecna's side. He lifted his head up, motioning for her to climb on his back. The young fairy obliged, and carefully flew onto the bull's back. The beast turned away from the Revolutionary Machine Party's base in the distance, and instead began to make his way back to the city. "If little has changed since I was last active, the organic hospitals on this planet should be top of the line."

"Why are you helping me?" Tecna asked weakly. She was holding on to her consciousness as tightly as she possibly could. She kept her eyes tightly shut, to avoid the agitation of the sand like she had just suffered.

"You woke me from my slumber," Kantakka replied. "I am returning the favour."

"How?" Tecna was getting too tired to elaborate on her questions further.

"There's something about you. Something not entirely organic, despite your outward appearance." Kantakka suddenly stopped his flight. "We have arrived in the city. The hospital in directly north of our current position."

"Thanks," Tecna said, surprise in her voice. The robot had moved at an impressive speed. She climbed down from Kantakka's back, and suddenly felt as if her body would collapse in on itself. She began to fly down to the hospital entrance, when she looked back at Kantakka. He had been heavily damaged in the fight, though not to the severe lengths as Monster, Angel, or even Tecna herself. "You should wait around here. I'll be able to repair you when I'm better."

Kantakka turned to her, and nodded. "I shall take you up on your offer, organic." He flew up to the roof of the hospital, and crouched down. "I will wait right here, until you return." His eyes lost their blue glow, slowly becoming black. His entire body changed from its lustrous gold sheen, into a dull grey colour. Tecna took one last look at the peculiar machine, before she made her way into the hospital.

* * *

Musa's mind was wracked with worry. Little more than thirty minutes had passed since a news broadcast brought the story of what had occurred on Apex to the rest of the Magical universe. The horrific images continuously flashed through her mind. A large room, with hundreds of bodies, all covered in tarps. While a list of victims had yet to be released to the public, Musa knew that Tecna had been a special guest to the conference. Tecna hadn't called or texted, or even respond to Musa's own calls. Despite the hopelessness surrounding the event, Musa clung to the tiny glimmer of hope, the possibility that her best friend could still be alive.

But one thing was for sure. She wasn't going to wait for answers. Being even more distraught than Musa was, Timmy had decided to go look for Tecna. Musa had been lucky enough to catch up to him before he could begin his search. The past year hadn't been easy on Timmy. Not long had passed since Tecna was trapped within the Omega dimension, and for something like this to happen so soon, was just too much for him to handle. Immediately after they heard the news, the two had borrowed a Red Fountain squad cruiser and made their way to Apex.

The situation on Apex was quite troublesome. All outgoing ships had been grounded, and the incoming traffic had been stopped right in its tracks, in the upper atmosphere of Apex. Musa tapped her feet rhythmically, having lost her patience waiting for a landing spot in the spaceport.

"We are sorry to say we cannot accommodate any landings at this time," a woman on the transport's radio said. "We are sorry for any inconveniences this may cause. For any refuel and repair needs, please visit orbiting Space station RE-42."

Musa looked over at Timmy, whose face had shown how completely devastated he was by the announcement. She stood up, and walked over to the entry door near the back of the vessel. "I don't want you to get in any trouble for what I'm about to do." Timmy gave her a confused look, and she smirked at him. "I'm going to find Tecna. Now." She waved goodbye to Timmy before she pressed a large button on the keypad next to the door. The door quickly opened, and she jumped out.

"Emergency exit opened. Cabin depressurization detected," a recorded voice said, accompanied by a wailing alarm. Timmy pressed a few buttons on the pilot's console, shutting the alarm down. "Emergency door lock engaged. Repressurizing cabin." The door quickly slid shut, and clicked as it locked once again. Timmy cupped his head in his hands, before he threw his glasses to the floor in frustration. He only wished he could somehow go with Musa to find Tecna.

Musa gently glided down to the surface of Apex, with the aid of her glittering Enchantix wings. Her eyes immediately took notice of the ruined ceiling of the domed conference centre, and she raced towards the building, where a large group of people had gathered around a fenced perimeter, held back by a few police wearing riot gear. From her spot up in the sky, Musa could see the blue tarps that had been placed on the bodies still lying inside of the building. Workers wearing protective suits were busy pulling covered bodies out, one at a time. Musa's heart had jumped up into her throat. Her worst fears had taken hold of her. She bit her lower lip at tightly as she could, and dove down to the workers.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to stay back," one of the workers said, his voice coming through a speaker on the front of his helmet. "I can't make exceptions, even for celebrities. This area is under strict quarantine. Dangerous chemical weaponry was utilized in the attack."

"I need to know if my friend is alive!" Musa protested.

"It's possible. There was one survivor."

"Was she a fairy with pink hair?! Tecna, member of the Winx Club?"

"Yes, that's right," the man replied. Musa's face brightened into an open mouthed smile. "She chased the responsible criminals out into the desert."

The smile immediately vanished, and was replaced by a look of complete terror. "Has she come back?"

"I'm sorry miss, but I have no idea. I need to get back to my work." Musa nodded, as the man walked into the dome. She flew high up into the air, and looked down upon the city, and around at the endless stretch of desert in every direction. Above her, were hundreds of vessels locked out of the planet. Before going out on a fruitless search in the desert, Musa decided to look through the city some more, in the hope that she would find a trace of her best friend.

* * *

The inside of the Revolutionary Machine Party's base was very cold, under the reasoning that it had helped machinery perform to its fullest. The base itself was a large, fortified complex, with hundreds of subterranean floors, where scientists had worked on top secret projects. In the lowest floor of the complex, basement three-hundred twenty-four, General Masiina had been staring through window into a large chamber, while the young Professor Dalis'Eti had been restrained to a nearby seat.

"What do you want from me?!" The professor yelled angrily. His throat had become raw from his constant repetition of that very same question. He had yet to receive a satisfactory answer.

General Masiina looked at the professor and smiled, as she took a seat on a chair just across a small table from him. "Professor," she began, "how would you feel, if I were to tell you that the technology you're working on already exists?"

"What?" The professor had an absolutely dumbfounded look on his face. "Created by whom?"

"By us of course. We call the machines we've built so far the Konolento."

"You're lying. It's what people like you do." Masiina continued to smile. "Why would you create a technology like that? What possible interest would you have in... enriching people's lives?"

"Perhaps you never thought of the other possible applications for your technology," Masiina replied. The cold temperature of the room hadn't stopped the professor from sweating bullets since the moment he entered the base.

"What interest do you have in a robot that can feel?"

"We want to bridge the gap between our machines and their pilots, whilst allowing for the lowest margin of human error possible, and eliminating the chance of having a robot reprogrammed."

"If you have the technology already, then why do you need me?!"

"Firstly, we can't have any of your research leaked to the greater public. We'd jammed multiple incoming and outgoing signals to prevent such an occurrence. Secondly, you can help us. This is a power the world at large can never know about."

"Why would I help you?" The professor asked.

"Thirdly," Masiina said, ignoring the professor's question, "we were quite intrigued by two important aspects of your breakthrough. Namely, the prospect that a machine can have no biological components and at the same time, run on something other than magical energy. We've managed to have machines that do one, and not the other, but we've never been successful in eliminating both of them in a single machine... except for..." she turned to the nearby window. "We've done it once."

The professor looked at the window from his limited view, but was unable to see anything. "What's behind that glass?"

"What's behind that glass is the reason I brought you here."

The elevator let out a quiet chime before opening. The steps of someone walking out could be heard.

"General Masiina," A man said, as he saluted.

"What is it?" the general asked, not even bothering to turn in his direction.

"Angel has returned from the battle with the trespasser." The man gulped loudly.

"And?"

"She and Monster were both defeated in battle, general." The man trembled as he maintained his salute. "Somehow, the trespasser woke Kantakka, and the two of them were able to escape. Monster deleted his primary system memory at the risk of capture, and has been brought back to the base to begin the reboot procedure."

"That's fine." Masiina stood up, and walked back to the window, which she began to peer through once more. "Kantakka is worthless to us anyway. You are dismissed."

* * *

"Tecna?" The voice was accompanied with a quiet tapping on the metallic door.

Tecna sat up in her hospital bed, taken completely by surprise by the voice she heard. Her lips curled into a smile, joyed that one of her friends had somehow found her. She pressed one of the buttons that had been built into the small table beside her. The door was unlocked, and opened. "Musa!" The Midnight-blue haired girl was standing in the door frame, looking into the room.

"Hey there," Musa said, as she stepped in. She looked down to her friend, who had all sorts of wires connected to her body with a steady flow of red flowing through each of them. Her leg been wrapped in bandages. "Blood transfusion?"

"You could say that," Tecna laid back down on the bed. "My blood is artificial, though it looks, smells and tastes like normal blood. It also makes it easier to replenish in case of an emergency."

"Like now?"

"Like now." Tecna looked up at Musa and tilted her head slightly. "You know, there are numerous benefits to-"

"I'm not going to try it," Musa said, cutting Tecna off.

"Suit yourself," Tecna replied. "Though if it weren't for my artificial blood, I'd likely have needed a tetanus shot in addition to a blood transfusion. I'm just saying that the reduced infection rate is highly-"

"I'm not going to try it," Musa repeated. She pulled a chair from the corner of the room over to the side of Tecna's bed, and sat down. "It's been a busy day. You never answered any of my calls or replied to my texts either!"

Tecna twisted her mouth and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't receive any calls, or texts." She picked up her phone from the table by her side. There were no signs of any activity within the last hour or so. "Strange. Maybe there could have been some interference." She looked back over to Musa after putting her phone down. "How did you find me?"

Musa chuckled nervously. "Are you sure you want to know?" Tecna nodded in response. "Fine. But first, I should tell you, I didn't come here alone. Timmy came with me."

The pink haired fairy sat up once more. "Timmy's with you? Where is he?" The liquid in the tubes connected to her skin began to flow faster, matching her increased heartbeat.

Musa laid Tecna back down on the bed. "He came with me, but he couldn't get on to the planet itself. Apex is under planet-wide quarantine." Tecna's heartbeat slowed to a normal pace. She had a look of slight disappointment on her face. Musa sat back in her seat and took a few deep breaths.

"Keep going," Tecna said.

"Alright." Musa let out a sigh. "So, I kinda broke the law so I could come down to the surface." Tecna looked to Musa and widened her eyes, wordlessly asking the girl to elaborate. "I flew to the conference hall, and I found out that you were still alive. They told me you went out into _the desert_, which isn't vague at all. Instead of going out there, I asked around to see if anyone had seen you, and a few people told me that you were seen here."

"They saw me here?" Tecna asked, with great disbelief in her voice.

"You're one of the most recognizable fairies in the universe," Musa replied with a snicker. "Of course you're going to have a few stalkers."

"Of course. That's why the door was locked." Tecna forced a smile, but it quickly reversed into a frown. "I don't know what they're going to do. I have no idea, and it bothers me."

"What do you mean?"

"Zenith," Tecna said. Musa nodded slowly, knowing the direction their conversation was about to take. "Zenith just... lost its figurehead. There may not be people lining the streets, wailing, or an increase of the suicide rate, but the people are going to want answers, and they're going to want justice."

"But we're in Apex's jurisdiction, and the planet's locked down."

"That may be, but if Apex can't stop who ever is responsible, you can bet that Zenith will come, and they will try. They will annex this realm if they need to." Tecna gave Musa a wary look. "And from what I've seen so far, Apex can't do a thing."

Musa stood up from her seat and walked over to a nearby window. Looking outside, she could tell that the people of Apex had been scared. The police had created perimeters around every government building, hoping to protect those inside the buildings from rioters.

"Things don't look too good," Musa said, as she continued to look outside. She could see that a large mob of people had been slowly making their way through the zigzagging streets. Whether they were peaceful or not, Musa couldn't tell. She turned back to look at Tecna, who had taken out her palmtop, and had stared at the screen intently. "What are you checking?"

"The Magix news coverage," Tecna replied. "It's lagging a bit, but I need an impartial source for the time being."

"Impartial and Magix news?" Musa said sarcastically. "Those are two words I never thought I'd hear together."

"I'll turn up the volume, and go to hologram display." Tecna pressed a few keys on her palmtop, and a 3-d image of the news feed was suddenly being projected from the small device. The image had tinted slightly green, but was still clear. There was a bird's eye view of the ruined conference hall on Apex.

"So far, there have been a reported total of two-hundred and thirty six deaths, with only one unconfirmed survivor of the attack, Tecna of Zenith, guardian fairy, and member of the famous Winx Club," a woman narrated, putting an 'um' or an 'uh' after every third word or so. "High-profile victims include the leadership of the New Labour Party, the Premier Government Party, and the People's Oligarchy Party, which Apex's Prime Minister, Alef Brose was a member of. Also included in the list of victims is King Cryos of Zenith, who was invited to the conference as a special guest. Live from Zenith, our reporter, Julie Yama, brings us the latest on the situation there." The image changed to a picture of a young woman, standing near the king's castle on Zenith, shivering in the cold. "Julie, what's going on over there?"

"Hi Ann," Julie said through chattering teeth. "There's a really... tense atmosphere, all over the realm. Just behind me, inside the castle, multiple members of the Zenith government, are currently discussing the current dilemma, including Princess Genix, daughter of the late king. While a decision has yet to be reached, and the press have not been let into the castle, one thing for certain is that they definitely want action against the responsible party. Back to you-" The hologram disappeared, as Tecna closed the top of her Palmtop down. Her mouth was creased into a frown, as she put the device down.

"Are you going to be alright?" Musa asked, as she walked over to Tecna. She put an arm on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah," Tecna replied. "I'm just... worried."

Musa placed her free hand on her chin, and narrowed her eyes. "So... Your wounds look like they were pretty severe... how did you get out of the desert?"

"It's a long story," Tecna said. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Of course. We've got a lot of time to kill."

"Alright then."

* * *

**"Author's" Notes:** Second Chapter done! Sorry it's taken so long, even more so considering I left chapter 1 off on a cliffhanger.

Kantakka's flickering eyes and the lightning around his horn is inspired by _Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers_ of all things. More specifically, Daizyujin's/the megazord's finishing attack. Kantakka using the word "organic" is inspired by the HK-50s from _Knights of the Old Republic II._

Thanks for reading this story! Please feel free to leave a review with your thoughts, comments and criticisms so I can improve! :p


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